Sole-leveling machine.



Patented Feb; 26, I901.

I No. 668,635

' a. u. airman;

SOLE LEVELING MACHINE.

(Appliclii nfllod July 2 1900) 3 Shoatv-Sheat (No Model.)

WI'I N ESi/EE No. 668,635. atented m. 26, l90l. a. H. mrronn.

SOLE LEVELING MACHINE.

(Application filed July 2, 1900.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

I WITNESSEE F 4 INVENTEIH G. I'll GIFFURD. SOLE LEVELING MACHINE.

(Application filled July 2, 1900.)

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' NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. GIFFORD, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

SOLE-LEVELING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 668,635, dated February 26, 1901.

Application filed July 2, 1900. Serial No. 22,295. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. GIFFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sole-Leveling Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to sole-leveling machines, and more particularly to that class of such machines in which the leveling operation is performed by a vibrating roll applied under pressure to the sole of a shoe supported upon an associated jack.

The present invention is intended as an improvement upon the machines disclosed in prior Letters Patent No. 541,988, dated July 2, 1895, and No. 555,548, dated March 3, 1896,

- granted to Erastus E. Winkley, although I do not consider it as limited to such machines, as the invention may be applied to machines of Widely-differing construction 'without departing from the spirit thereof. In the machines of the patents referred to mechanism is provided for changing the relative lateral inclination of the jack and roll to give the proper shape or curvature to the shoe-sole, and auxiliary mechanism is provided for varying the action of said first-mentioned mechanism, both of said mechanisms being provided with means of adjustment whereby the action of said first mentioned mechanism upon the roll or jack to vary their relative lateral inclination at different parts of the shoe may be independently adjusted. By the mechanism of the patents a greater or less inclination may be given to the roll while acting on the shank of a shoe by the adjusting means of the mechanism for changing the inclination of the roll and a proportional increase or decrease in the inclination of the roll While acting on the fore part of the shoe prevented by the adjusting means of the auxiliary mechanism. The mechanism of the patents is capable of adjustment to give the roll the necessary movements to operate satisfactorily upon most classes of work without change in the shape of the actuating-cams. It will be noted, however, that a change in the adjustment of the auxiliary mechanism to vary the action of the mechanism for changing the inclination of the roll produces a proportionate variation in the action of such mechanism throughout the period of action thereon of the auxiliary mechanism. In other words, if the auxiliary mechanism is adjusted to change the inclination of the roll while acting on one edge of the flat fore part of a shoe a corresponding change in the inclination of the roll will occur at the other edge. This result has been found undesirable upon certain classes of work provided with a flat fore part and a wide outside edge; and the object of my present invention is to provide a mechanism whereby this result may be obviated and the roll and jack given such relative movements as may be necessary to give the sole the desired shape or curvature.

In carrying out my invention I provide two or more independently-actuated mechanisms for varying the action of the roll or jack tipping mechanism and provide each of these mechanisms with a means of adjustment whereby the effect produced by each on the roll or jack tipping mechanism may be varied as desired. By employing two mechanisms for varying the action of the roll or jack tipping mechanism I greatlyincrease the range of adjustment of the machine by increasing the number of points on the work at which the inclination of the roll can be changed without producing a corresponding change at other points, and thereby adapt the machine for operation upon practically any style of work In the accompanying drawings, illustrating a preferred form of my invention,l have shown the same applied to the machine disclosed in Patent No. 555,548, one of the mechanisms for varying the action of the roll or jack tipping mechanism being substantially the same as the auxiliary mechanism of the patented machine. While, however, the mechanism shown in the drawings is the best form of my invention at present knownto me and its use in connection with the mechanism of the patented machine is especially advantageous, I do not consider my invention as limited to any particular form of mechanism or to use in any particular machine.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a View in side elevation of the machine of Patent No. 555,548 with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a view in end elevation, portions of the driving mechanism being omitted and a portion of the frame being broken away to show the connections to one of the rollcarriers. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3 3, Fig. 2; and Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views of supporting-brackets to be described.

Referring to the drawings, in which like characters of reference indicate like parts, A indicates the frame of the machine; B B, the leveling-rolls; D, the shoe-supportingjacks; e, the cam-shaft; E, the cam-disk, provided with cam-grooves for actuating the mechanism for oscillating the jacks and the mechanism for tipping the roll-carriers, the parts being the same in construction and mode of operation as those designated by similar reference charactors in the patent above referred to.

The means for supporting the roll-carriers, com prising the sleeves 13 the segmental gears P P, the racks R R for actuating the rollcarriers to vary the inclination of the rolls B B, and the mechanism for reciprocating the rolls, comprising the shaft F, eccentrics f, and connections to the rods 1), to which the roll-carrying yokes are attached, are also the same as in the patent above referred to.

As shown in the drawings, the mechanism for reciprocating the racks R R comprises the bell-crank L of the patent with its actuating mechanism, including the rod Z Instead of connecting the upper arm of the bellcrank directly with the rack R by means of the link Z, as in the patented structure, I provide two levers 1 and 2 and connect the upper arm of the bell-crank to the upper end of the lever 1 by a link 3, the lower end of the lever l to the lower end of the lever 2 by a link 4, and the upper end of the lever 2 to the rack R by the link Z. By this construction the movement of the lever L is transmitted to the rack R through the levers 1 and 2, and the extent of movement imparted to the rack will depend upon the relative length of the various lever-arms and the distance from the pivots of the levers of the link connections. For varying the action of this mechanism on the roll-carriers I provide two independentlyactuated mechanisms, one of which is arranged to change the point of connection of the link 3 to the upper arm of the bell-crank L, and the other of which is arranged to change the point of connection of the link 47 to the lower end of the lever l. The first of said mechanisms, as shown in Fig. 2, is substantially the same as the auxiliary mechanism disclosed in the patent before referred to and comprises levers a 91*, connected by segmental gears 01 n connecting-rod n cross-head n connecting-rod it and block a, mounted to slide in the slotted upper arm of the lever L, to which block the end of the link 3 is c011- nected. The second of said mechanisms comprises levers 5 and 6, pivoted at right angles l to each other and connected by the segmental racks 7 and 8, connecting-rod 9, cross-head 10, mounted to reciprocate on guide-rod 11, link 12, and block 13, mounted in the slotted lower end of the lever 1, to which the end of the link t is attached. The lever 5 is actuated to move the block 13 on the lever 1 through the connections above described by means of a cam 14 on the shaft 8. Both mechanisms are provided with means of adjustment, whereby the extent of the variation produced by such mechanisms on the mechanism for actuating the roll carriers may be regulated. This means of adjustment, as shown, consists of segmental slots formed in the levers n and 6, in which blocks carried at the ends of the connecting-rods n and 9 are mounted, springpressed pins mounted in the blocks and engaging holes in the bottom of the slots being provided to hold the blocks in adjusted position. Levers 15, pivoted on the rods 01. and 9, serve to retract the pins when it is desired to change the adjustment. The specific adjusting mechanism above described is clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the patent above referred to as applied to the connecting-rod n and le' ver 71 and illustration other than that given in Fig. 2 is deemed unnecessary. The pivot of the lever 5 is journaled in a bearing 16, formed in a bracket 17, (shown separately in Fig. 5,) bolted to the frame of the machine. This bracket is also provided with a bearing 18 for the pivot of the lever 6. A bracket 19 (shown separately in Fig. 4) carries the bear ings for the lever 1 and guide-rod 11.

The operation of the mechanism above described is as follows: As the shaft (2 rotates the bell-crank lever L is actuated from the cam-groove in the disk E and intermediate connections, as in the patent hereinbefore referred to, and the movement of the lever L is transmitted to the roll-carriers through the levers 1 and 2, connecting-links 3, 4:, and Z racks R R, and segmental gears P P. The movements of the lever L are determined by the shape of the cam-groove in the disk E, and, disregarding the adjustments of the link connections during the revolution of the disk, the movements of the roll-carriers are determined in direction and extent by the movements of the lever. During the revolution of the shaft 6 the block it" is moved in the slot in the upper end of the lever L by a cam and intermediate connections comprising the levers n n connecting-rod n cross-head 71, and connecting-rod n as in the patent hereinbefore referred to, to vary the effect of the lever L on the roll-carriers. Likewise during the revolution of the shaft 6 the block 13 is moved in the slot in the lower end of the lever 1 by the cam 14 and intermediate connections comprising the levers 5 6, connecting-rod 9, cross-head 10,and link 11 to also vary the effect of the lever L on the roll-carriers. The extent of the movements imparted to the roll-carriers by the lever L is determined, primarily, by the initial position of the block it in the slot in 'such mechanism will be correspondingly the upper end of the lever. For adjusting the initial position of the block 11* the lower end of the connecting-rod n is adj ustably connected to the cross-head M, as in the pattent hereinbefore referred to. Disregarding the mechanism for moving the blocks 02 and 13 during the revolution of the shaft 2, it will be evident that any change in the initial position of the block n will produce a corresponding change in the movements imparted to the roll-carriers throughout the revolution of the shaft. The mechanism for moving the block W acts to prevent such a result by modifying the action on the roll-carriers of certain of the movements of the lever L. The mechanism for moving the block n is provided with a means of adjustment, as has been described, whereby the extent of the movements given to the block to vary the action of the lever L on the roll-carriers can be adjusted. Disregarding the mechanism for actuating the block 13, it will be seen that the roll-carriers are given a series of movements by the action of the lever L during the revolution of the shaft 2 and that certain of these movements are modified by the mechanism for moving the block it". If, now, the adj ustment of the mechanism for moving the block n be changed, all of the movements of the roll-carriers due to the modifying effect of changed. The function of the mechanism for actuating the block 13 is to prevent this result, its action in effect being to vary the action of the mechanism for moving the block 02 in the same manner that this mechanism varies the action of lever L. The extent of the variations produced by this mechanism can be adj usted by the adjusting means hereinbefore described.

The mechanism shown in the drawings and above described is designed to operate on a shoe having a rounded shank and a flat fore part provided witha wide outside edge. During the forming of the shank the mechanisms for moving the blocks 91. and 13 are inoperative. While the roll is on the inner edge of the fore part, the mechanism for moving the block n is operative to decrease the angle of inclination of the roll, and while the roll is on the outer edge the mechanism for moving the block 13 is operative to still further decrease the angle of inclination and to hold the roll substantially horizontal.

By my invention I provideamachine wherein the relative inclination of the roll and jack may be varied within wide limits and wherein the action of the mechanism for producing the relative inclination of the roll and jack may be so varied as to capacitate the machine for operation upon any class of work met with in practice. I

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States A sole-leveling machine, having, in combination a leveling-roll, a shoe-supporting jack, connected mechanism for relatively actuating the roll and jack to level the sole of a shoe placed upon the jack, and two automatically-operating adjusting devices connected with said actuating mechanism Whereby the same is operated to shape the shank and the opposite edges of the fore part of a sole independently of each other, substantially as described.

2. A sole-leveling machine, having, in combination, a leveling-roll, a shoe-supporting jack, mechanism for relatively actuating the roll and jack to level the sole of a shoe placed upon the jack, two adjusting devices connected with said mechanism, and mechanism for automatically actuating said devices during the operation of the machine, substantially as described.

3. Asole-leveling machine, having, in combinationa leveling-roll and a shoe-supporting jack, mechanism for changing the relative lateral inclination of the roll andjack, and a plurality of independently-actuated adjusting mechanisms connected therewith, substan tially as described.

4. A leveling-roll, a shoe-supporting jack, mechanism for changing the relative lateral inclination of the roll and jack, two independently-actuated adjusting devices connected with said mechanism one of said devices acting to vary the operation of the other and the other acting to vary the operation of said mechanism, substantially as described.

5. A sole-leveling machine, having, in combination,a leveling-roll and a shoe-supporting jack, mechanism forchanging the relative lateral inclination of the roll and jack, and two independently-actuated adjusting mechanismsconnected therewith, each of said mechanisms being provided with means of adj ustment, substantially as described.

6. Asole-leveling machine, having, in combination, a leveling-roll, a shoe-supporting jack,mechanism for changing the relative lateral inclination of the roll and jack comprising two pivoted levers and adjustable link connections, and independent mechanisms acting automatically to change the adjustments of the link connections during the operation of the machine, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE H. GIFFORD.

Witnesses:

HORACE VAN EVEREN, FRED O. FISH. 

